


Stars above (old version, will not be updated)

by RavenclawGirl (RavenclaOwl)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hogwarts Eighth Year, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:35:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27437437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenclaOwl/pseuds/RavenclawGirl
Summary: Old version, this will not be updated. For more chapters, go to @RavenclaOwl, the work is still called stars aboveHermione and her friends are back at Hogwarts for an extra year of studies. But the war has left many scars, and when Draco Malfoy approaches her and wants to be friends, Hermione just gets more confused."
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Pansy Parkinson, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	1. A windy evening

I took a step forward. Another step. Now I was standing right at the edge. Above, a dark blue sky covered with stars. Below, a long drop and then a field of grass and flowers. The wind was strong up here, and I almost stumbled. I wondered how it would feel. To just lift my foot, lean forward, and fall. I wouldn't have to deal with all the harsh words, the sleepless nights, the memories of my parents. I raised my foot, but I couldn't do it. I had to keep fighting. Just falling, that would mean... It would mean giving up. With a sigh, I sank down to a sitting position, feet dangling over the edge. The stars really were best viewed from this tower. That was probably why the Astronomy lessons were held up here.  
I pushed my dark curls behind my ears, and opened my book. It wasn't a textbook, but a muggle novel. Some nights I studied, but this night I just wanted to relax with a good book. I was just about to open the book, when I was interrupted.  
"Hello there". I whipped around, my wand already out of my pocket and pointing toward the person who had startled me. A person with blonde hair, pale eyes, and, unusually enough, half-smiling, although it didn’t reach his eyes. Usually when I saw him, he was sneering.  
"Malfoy", I sighed, lowering my wand, but not putting it back in my pocket. Even though he had helped at the end of the war, I still didn't trust him.  
"Granger”, he said, and gingerly sat down beside me, peering down the edge. “Awfully long way down.”  
“Yeah. What do you want?” I had never before been interrupted when reading at the Astronomy Tower, and I didn’t like it one bit. I glanced down at my book, wishing to disappear in it again.  
“Look, I know that these years… I mean… The relationship between us Slytherins and you Gryffindors have always been sour, but I thought that now after the war, that might… That is to say, I was wondering whether-”  
“Hey. What’s wrong?” Never had I ever seen Malfoy stumble so with words. He always knew exactly what to say. Malfoy turned his face toward mine, and I looked into his pale eyes. To my surprise, I saw them filled with… Worry? He looked down.  
“Okay. So. I’ve been noticing you coming here at night, and I thought I would come down and talk to you, and try to set things right - you know between me and my friends, and you and Potter and Weasley. But then, tonight, I saw you standing at the edge and looking down and…” Oh. Oh. So he had realised. I rose.  
“You know what? That’s _so_ not your business. Goodnight!” I turned around and headed out, but he gripped my shoulder.  
“Don’t touch me!”  
“I’m sorry, I just-”  
“You know what?” I flipped around, and stared him in the face. “You’re one of the reasons I’m standing there every night! You, and all your Slytherin friends, snickering and calling me mudblood. When I was eleven, I hoped that when I came to Hogwarts I would be free of the racism, but instead I just got another form of it. And yes, there are other things haunting me, but all that… All my life I have been looked down on not because of who I am, but because of who I was born. And you might not think it, but it leaves deep scars. Mental as well as physical.” I pulled up the sleeve of my left sleeve to show him the word carved into my skin. Mudblood. “So if you don’t mind, I’ll be going to bed now”  
“I came here because I’ve been standing there too”  
I looked at him, frowning. But I didn’t head inside.  
“Every time I shave, holding a razor in my hand, I think about ending it. Every time I stand on a bridge, a ledge, anywhere, I think about just taking the step. I know… I know that it’s not an excuse, but I’ve had it pretty rough, too, being forced into a death eater. I have my own scars.” He pulled up his sleeve, showing the faded dark mark. Then he looked at me, eyes filled with remorse. “I’m sorry.”  
Wow. Was this the Draco Malfoy I knew? Sharing his feelings, saying _sorry_?  
“It’s okay”. I gave him a half smile, turned around, and walked back to the gryffindor common room.


	2. A night of thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, another chapter, yay. Enjoy.  
> Oh and I promise I love Ron, it's just, Hermione doesn't think too much of him in this chapter, just so you know.

The next evening, when I couldn’t sleep, I went down to the common room instead. Talking to Malfoy like that yesterday had been… Strange. I needed to do some thinking before I returned there, since there was a risk he would return there too.

“Hi, Hermione” I turned around and saw Harry sitting in one of the armchairs near the fireplace. I smiled softly and sat down next to him.

“Having trouble sleeping too?” I asked him.

“Yeah, and I thought that I might as well get some studying done” He gestured to the open Potions textbook lying before him, “it’s pretty hard to concentrate though”. I glanced down at the pages he was studying.  _ Memory Potion _ .

“You haven’t written the essay on it yet?” Harry looked down. “Harry, it’s due tomorrow!”

“I’ve been meaning to, but, well, time’s slipped by” he blushed a bit, and I knew he was thinking about Ginny. They’d been together since after the Battle of Hogwarts, and even if they didn’t spend as much time together now that school had started, it was obviously enough to distract Harry from his studies. I put away my novel.

“Okay then, I will help”

“Thanks Mia”

“Do you want me to help or not?” I glared at him, and he laughed.

“Sorry, thanks Hermione”

“Okay, the subject is  _ Memory Potions and it’s uses _ , so you could use some background information in the beginning, what have you written here…?” 

***

About half an hour later, the finished essay laid in front of us. Harry had actually done a lot of the work, he had improved a lot since our first school years. I fondly thought back on when I had practically had to do Harry and Ron’s school work for them at times, because they were distracted by quidditch and such. 

“Thanks for the help”

“Yeah, sure, it was nothing” I looked at my novel, lying on the table, but decided against it. It had been a while since I had talked with Harry, only the two of us, without  _ Ron _ . “How’s it going between you and Ginny, by the way” 

“Fine, I guess. I mean, we haven’t spent very much time together since we came back to Hogwarts last month. She spends a lot of time with her friends, Luna mostly - not that I’m jealous, I just kinda miss the summer when it was only the two of us?”

“And me, and the rest of the Weasleys?” We had all spent the summer at the Burrow together. 

“Well, yeah, but that was different” I could see that my attempt at a joke hadn’t cheered him up, and I frowned.

“Hey, Harry, it’ll be okay, alright?” 

“You’re probably right” He gave me a quick smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Then something behind me drew his gaze, and I turned around. And found myself looking at Ron, on his way down the stairs. I turned back to Harry. 

“Well, you know, it’s late, I should be getting some sleep. ‘night” I grabbed my book and started toward the stairs leading up to my dorm. I went past Ron, who smiled at me, and I gave him a quick smile back before heading up. 

I couldn’t quite put my finger on what had happened between Ron and me. I had had a crush on him for years - since fourth year, probably, when I went to the ball with Viktor half out of spite, since Ron didn’t think to ask me. But then in our sixth year, he dated Lavender, and last year he just left us and expected everything to be  _ fine  _ when he came back. It just never felt like he liked me back. Yes, he had kissed me at the Battle of Hogwarts (as we had started to call it), but then… Well, none of us said or did anything about it. I was too scared, too afraid he might turn me down, and he didn’t do anything about it either… it was probably just a mistake to him, right? Something that happened in the heat of battle. Anyway, things had been awkward between us since, but I had gotten over him now.

I reached the door to my dorm. It was still hard to think of it as  _ my _ dorm.  _ My _ dorm was currently inhabited by a bunch of cute little first years, so I shared with the seventh years. Some had it rather crowded - I had heard that the Ravenclaw girls were twelve people in one room - but there were not as many in the Gryffindor girl’s dorm. There were four seventh years - Ginny, Demelza, Rionach, and Wren. Wren was non-binary, but I supposed they shared dorm with the girls since it would be lonely otherwise. And I was the only eight year student - Parvati had opted not to return for her eight year, and Lavender… Well, it had not been an option for her. Even though I had found her rather annoying and many times had wished for other dorm mates than her and Parvati, I missed them. 

I quietly opened the door. All the girls were sleeping, and Wren was lying in her bed, reading. I waved at them and then tipped over to my own bed, putting up silencing charms before I closed my eyes. I didn’t want the others hearing if I had nightmares.


	3. Info

Okay, so I will not update this story here but instead put it on my main, RavenclaOwl. So be sure to check there for chapter three, which is out now!


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